This invention relates to the cutting of pattern pieces from fabric and similar sheet material spread either as a single layer or as a multiple layered lay-up on a supporting surface, and deals more particularly with improvements in the construction of a carriage for supporting and moving a work tool, such as a labeller or bundler, relative to spread sheet material supported by a supporting table, with the improvements permitting the carriage, by means of a related lifting and transport cart, to be readily moved into and out of working relationship with a table and to be transported from one table to another.
The work tool carriage, and its related lifting and transport cart, of this invention may be used in association with various different tools for working on or processing sheet material supported by a supporting table and from which material pattern pieces have been or are to be cut for use in making clothing, upholstery or the like. As an example, the tool carriage of the invention lends itself particularly well to use with a labeller such as shown and described in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/585,711 filed on Sep. 19, 1990, with the carriage and labeller being positioned relative to the sheet material by a drive and control system built into the carriage and responsive to position information associated with each label. Therefore, the invention is hereinafter illustrated and described with the involved work tool taken to be such a labelling mechanism. In doing so, however, it should be understood that there is no intention to limit the invention in its broader aspects to a labeller carriage.
Tool carriages of the type with which the invention is concerned move longitudinally of the work supporting tables with which they become associated and include a work tool supporting sub-carriage moveable relative to the main frame of the tool carriage in the direction extending transversely of the associated table so that the tool carried by the sub-carriage can be positioned in X and Y coordinates relative to the table to bring it to any point on the top surface of the sheet material supported by the table by combined movement of the main frame longitudinally of the table and of the sub-carriage transversely of the main frame and table. In the case of such carriages, it is also known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,074, to transfer the carriage from one table to another by use of a transfer table or wagon moveable from a position at the end of one table to a position at the end of another table. To effect a transfer, the work tool carriage is moved longitudinally of its present work table and off the end of that table onto the transfer table. The transfer table is then moved to the end of a new work table and the carriage then moved longitudinally of the new work table off of the transfer table and onto the new work table. Because spreaders and other tool carriages may be used with the work tables in question, or because access to the ends of the work tables may be hindered by other factors, this method of transferring a carriage by running it onto and off of the ends of the tables is not always efficient or possible.
The general object of the invention is therefore to provide a construction for a work tool carriage which permits the carriage to be readily removed from or placed onto a table not only from an end of the table, but also from the side of the table and at substantially any selected point along the length of the table, thereby permitting the carriage to be removed from and placed on a work table despite the fact that access to the table from one or both of its ends may be difficult to achieve due, for example, to the construction of the table, the placement of the table relative to other machines or equipment, or the presence on the table of a spreader or other work carriage.
Along with the preceding object a further object of the invention is to provide a tool carriage which in addition to being removable from and replaceable on a table from an end or a side of the table by moving it vertically relative to the table may also, if desired and if conditions permit, be removable and replaceable relative to a table by being moveable horizontally off of or onto the end of a table and onto or off of a transfer table or wagon temporarily positioned at the end of the table, so as to form a continuation thereof, and which transfer table is movable from the end of one table to the end of another.
A further object of the invention is to provide a work carriage of the above character including means for positively holding the carriage to the table during its period of working on the sheet material carried by the table and which means is moveable to a released position to allow the carriage to be lifted or lowered vertically from or onto the table with the means for operating the holding means being electrically powered and contained on the carriage along with electrically powered means for otherwise driving and controlling the carriage so that the carriage need only be connected to a source of electrical power to make it operable.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide, in combination with a work tool carriage of the character defined in the preceding objects, a lifting and transport cart of simple construction and of easy manual operation for moving the work tool carriage generally vertically from and onto a table, which cart is moveable by an operator transversely of a table to move the carriage out of and into a position above the table and to move the carriage from one table to another.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, and from the accompanying drawings and claims.